196 RESTRICTIONS ON THE ALIENATION Ol 1 LANDS. 



or class of persons, from the operation of the restrictions in whole 

 or in part. They also proposed to amend the existing law of pre-emp- 

 tion in the Punjab, to revise the present order of priority of pre- 

 emption which is laid down in section 12 of the Punjab Laws Act, 

 so as to exclude strangers who have bought into the village, and to 

 transfer the hearing of pre-emption cases, both as regards the 

 fixation of the pre-emption prices and questions of title, from the Civil 

 Courts to Revenue-officers. 



These proposals of the Punjab Committee constitute the founda- 

 tion of the scheme which is embodied in the Bill which I am 

 introducing. They have, as I shall explain, been modified in some 

 particulars, but such modifications have been made with the sole 

 object of securing more effectually the intentions of the Committee, 

 and do not affect any question of principle. I turn first to the restric- 

 tions to be imposed on sales and other permanent transfers. It 

 appeared to us that the proposal made by the Punjab Committee, 

 that alienations between ' agriculturists ' should continue to be free 

 from all restrictions, was open to objection. In the first place, the 

 definition of ' agriculturists ' which has been framed by the Com- 

 mittee, or indeed any other practicable definition of the term, must 

 necessarily include numerous classes of persons who, although land- 

 holders since the early years of British rule or even prior thereto, 

 are, in reality, primarily traders and money-lenders by nature and 

 profession, and not true agriculturists in any proper sense of term. 

 Moreover, since even the bonafide agriculturist is not infrequently also 

 a money-lender, we think it desirable to retain power to prevent such 

 men from buying up land in a village where they would come in as 

 outsiders and constitute a foreign element in the village community. 

 We recognize, however, that we must guard against unduly narrow- 

 ing the market for free sales, and we propose to attain this object 

 by the following means. On the analogy of section 45 of the Cen- 

 tral Provinces Tenancy Act of last year, we are providing that all 

 permanent transfers must receive the previous sanction of a Revenue- 

 officer, but that sanction shall be given, as a matter of right, in cases in 

 which the Revenue-officer is satisfied that the intending transferor is a 



o 



person who is not a member of an agricultural tribe, or, in cases where 

 the intending transferor is a member of an agricultural tribe, that the 

 transfer is either to an agriculturist, (as defined by the Punjab Com- 

 mittee) holding land as a proprietor or occupancy tenant in the village 



